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spiralize

Hey guys. I know I’ve been a humongous slacker. Sorry about that. There’s been a bit of turbulence in my life recently but I’m getting things back on track. To make amends I have an easy and delicious recipe for you that I just whipped up.

But first let’s talk about this zoodle trend. Do you know what zoodles are? They are zucchini noodles of course. The spiralized food trend is huge right now and you can buy different kinds of spiralizing tools. I opted for an inexpensive and small version for my tiny kitchen. I didn’t want to sink a lot of money into this trend before knowing if I would like it, so I bought the Microplane Spiral Slicer for about $15. I’ve used my spiralizer just a couple of times. It’s relatively easy, but I do get a little nervous that my fingers will get hurt when I near the end of the vegetable, so I end up using a knife to finish slicing. Zoodles are good. Foodles (I’m assuming that would be the term for finger noodles) would be bad. And disgusting. I just grossed myself out. Sorry. Anyway, the noodles that the Microplane tool forms are good, but not exactly shaped like swirly spaghetti, which I thought it would be. Recently I had a chance to try a bigger spiralizer which was on demonstration at Sur La Table. It was super easy, the noodles more closely resembled spaghetti noodles, and it was only $25! I would recommend that version if you have the room for it, and as with any specialized kitchen equipment, if you think you’ll use it often.

Now on to the recipe. I saw this recipe on a morning show that had chef Ryan Scott as a guest. It is a recipe that works for both raw and vegan diets, and while I don’t adhere to either, I like to try all kinds of dishes. Also, I had most of the ingredients on hand and was dying to use my spiralizer. Here is the recipe for the sauce. You can put it over zoodles, any other kind of spiralized veggies, or of course, regular pasta.

Add the cashews, lemon juice, zest, spinach and garlic into a blender with 1/2 cup of water. (Tip: When making a sauce, put the water in the blender first so that everything emulsifies more easily.) Puree until a paste forms and add water to achieve a pourable consistency.

Chiffonade the basil and stir into the mixture. (Tip: Did you know, the more you chop your basil takes away from the aromatics? Don’t mince that basil to death!) You can keep this sauce in the fridge for a day or two and only add the basil when you’re ready to eat.

Confession. I didn’t read the recipe correctly the first time and I blended the basil into the sauce. I thought it was completely creamy and delicious the way it was, but I do believe that adding the basil last-minute would give it a more interesting texture and would look nicer if you were not scarfing it down yourself rather than sharing it with company. Next time I might finish it with a quick swirl of good olive oil to give it some richness. I will also admit that I found that a bowlful of zoodles and sauce left me somewhat unfulfilled after a short amount of time, so I would definitely make this as more of a cold salad by adding other veggies or even a protein. Cherry tomatoes would be pretty. Cubed up fresh mozzarella, maybe some diced chicken, or roasted shrimp would be tasty. This recipe really is a good jumping-off point and you can make it as vegan or un as you wish. Enjoy!

Above are spiralized raw summer squash which I picked up at the farmer’s market. Yum!